Week beginning Feb 24

Mark 15 & 16

Pilate objected, “But for what crime?” What was Jesus’ crime that he deserved to die for? Was it that he healed people…nope. Was it that Jesus touched the lepers…no that would make him unclean but not worthy of death. Was it that Jesus mixed with Samaritans, Tax collectors and Prostitutes…not really, these just made him irreligious. Was it that he loved God and loved people…in part yes…but not this in and of itself. Jesus deserved to die (according to the Laws of the Pharisees) because he claimed to be one with God – the ‘Son of God’ – one who sits with God – and Jesus loved people and loved God not through the Laws of the Pharisees but through the way of relationship. Jesus proclaimed that God’s Kingdom, that is, God’s presence and God’s reality was to be seen in ‘the least of these’, in children, in the poor, and amongst the outcasts. 

A question that comes out of this for me is “For what crimes of loving God and loving people” could I be accused of? Will I so identify with and live the way of Jesus that I could be accused of loving God and loving people the way Jesus did? I once heard this question expressed this way -If it became illegal in Australia to love God and love people, would there be enough evidence for me to be convicted?

Jesus’ resurrection is for me the truth that I can live the way of Christ, not on my own, but with Christ with me. In fact it is the Holy Spirit that helps me to love God and love people as Jesus did and as Jesus does still today.

Psalm 8

The undeniability of the universe with the question of the place of humanity in the scheme of God is an age old pondering that has both the philosophers and the theologians wondering. The Pslamist gives expression to this in a song. “Lord what is humanity that you think of us?” The amazing truth is that God does think of us. And within the vastness of  the universe this is a comforting thought. Life for any of us can feel overwhelming let alone bringing the cosmic context into play. Without the presence and thoughtfulness of God we would be lost in eternity. But Jesus has made the God-promise to be with us to the end of the ages – and that’s a good thing!

Genesis 8

Here is the story of God being mindful of humanity. In the Noah story – God is mindful of our potential for evil; God is mindful of the world and all that lives in it; and God is mindful of the relationship that God has gifted humanity with. From the human side this is a story of hope and promise and trust. This story reminds me that we can be swept up in the flood of circumstances and other people’s actions but that God is mindful of us and will not forget us. And that in time God’s faithfulness will be seen. You have to love hope!

Week beginning Feb 18

Psalm 7

To live such that you could say with integrity, “Our Lord…judge me and show that I am honest and innocent”, would be a blessing. Not that life would be easy with all those ‘enemies’ around to try to cause trouble and pull you down – but to say “God, judge me”, with a knowledge of peace, that’s got to be good. The truth for me at least, (if not all of us) is that by myself I can’t do this. Yet in Jesus I can. My life is in Christ’s life and God’s judgement is good. As I obey and live the life that Jesus shows, then I do get to participate in Christ’s life. As I have said before, this obedience is not qualification but participation. And like the Psalmist, this makes me want to sing “How Great is Our God!” – God has judged me and in Christ I am free and have joy…this is way cool!

Week beginning Feb 11

Psalm 6

“…My bones tremble with fear, and I am in deep distress. How long will it be? Turn and come to my rescue. Show your wonderful love and save me…” Man, this is faith isn’t it. To be so low and yet still be hoping and believing in God’s wonderful love. This truly is good news. That no matter what life throws at me I can still seek God and in faith God will reply. At the end of the Psalm the writer says, “…You have answered my prayer and my plea for mercy…” Peace comes. This tells me to keep hanging on to God and hanging in to the life that I have been given. “…My enemies will be ashamed…” The Psalmist experienced that relief and sense of justice in the end. I saw this expressed the other day when Kevin Rudd said ‘Sorry’ to the ‘Stolen Generations’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – relief, justice and joy. God is at work in God’s world – all I need to do is ‘trust and obey’ (hmmm that would make a good hymn wouldn’t it).

Mark 11 & 12

One of the ways in which I believe it is important to read the Bible is to allow it to read myself. These stories of the diversity of people’s reactions to Jesus makes me look at the diversity of my own reactions to Jesus – everything from:

• when the going is good I join in the cheering for Jesus (11:1-11)
• when Jesus does a miracle that I see, I struggle with how am I supposed to respond (11:12-26)
• when I doubt, I question Jesus’ credentials to be real and show the truth and to make a difference (11:27-33)
• when I’m left to myself for a while I want to take over from God (12:1-12)
• when challenged by my own culture I can be confused (12:13-17)

This diversity in my own life I think is fairly normal as it was for the disciples and the people around Jesus. But it can’t keep being like this – growing in a relationship with Jesus is a maturing journey which the last parts of Chapter 12 point to. What seems to leap out at me from this reading is that it is a living relationship with the living God which is more important than religious questions and isssues, and that this living is about LOVE – for God and one another. And that the story of the widow’s generosity is the ‘way’ for me – that is, to give and to trust God.

Following Jesus is a journey in a living relationship in which God is constant through my inconsistency and Jesus continues to invite obedience, trust, giving and love.

Week beginning Feb 4

Psalm 5

What a great Psalm. This really gives expression to the very normal and human feelings of being disconnected from God and the sense that all we do sometimes is groan and ramble on (well at least that’s how I feel at times). One version (The Message) says of God, “…every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend…” The fact that God is so patient with all of us is truly a gift. God does make sense of my ramblings and through constantly acknowledging God and by trying to take the steps that Jesus would have me take…it all seems to work out (not easy but good).

This is a Psalm for me to remember.

Mark 9 & 10

The main thing that jumped out at me was the number of times that Jesus more or less said…”You’re not getting it!” to the disciples, pharisees and people around him - They didn’t get what the Mountain Top experience was with Moses and Elijah, they didn’t get that healing takes faith and prayer, they didn’t get that Jesus would give his life for all, they didn’t get that they were supposed to serve one another instead of worrying about being great, they didn’t get that God’s Kingdom is about kids and being like a child in trusting God, they didn’t get that relationships are about love for each other, and they didn’t get that following Jesus is not about ticking off a list of rules but having your whole life given over to God. Then right at the end of the two chapters the one person who got Jesus was a blind man who believed.

I believe God was pointing out the same to me…there is much that I am not getting about Jesus but what Jesus wants from me is to believe and trust. I am glad that just as Jesus stuck in there with His disciples so he will stick in with me.

Peter